Artifacts Archives - Page 48 of 197

A Mastery-Based Math Teacher’s Journey

This case study highlights a high school math teacher’s successful journey of taking the steps needed to move away from traditional teaching methods to innovative pedagogies supporting mastery-based teaching and learning.

Mastery-based learning (also called competency-based learning) is a shift away from traditional, one-size-fits-all teaching. Teachers ensure each student masters academic knowledge and builds core skills as they progress through K-12 education. It also increases student engagement and agency, or ownership of their learning. In competency-based learning environments, all students are held to the same high standards and assessed based on showing what they know through a performance, with flexibility in pacing and assurances for equity.

Mastery-based learning poses unique opportunities for creating new personalized learning designs and transforming the traditional education system. Educators are leading new designs from the ground up to spearhead innovative learning that increases equity, agency, and meaningful learning and assessment for every student.

When author Ashley Ferrara, a founding faculty member and math instructor at the Academy for Software Engineering (AFSE), a public high school in New York City, heard her school was transitioning from traditional practices to mastery-based learning, she was skeptical. Today, after a multi-year transition, she is an enthusiastic and devoted practitioner of mastery-based learning.

In A Mastery-Based Math Teacher’s Journey, Ferrara shares a refreshing and candid account of her own transition to mastery-based learning with her students. Lessons learned from Ferrara’s transition can be applied beyond mathematics to inform mastery-based learning in all academic disciplines.

Ferrara’s journey of deep devotion, reinvention, improvement, and a commitment to all learners achieving success serves as a guiding resource for applying competency-based learning principles in the field.

September 27, 2021

Episode 8: Metro Nashville Public Schools on Relationship-Building, Family Engagement, and Remote Support During COVID

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, we speak with Dr. Keri Randolph, Executive Officer of Strategic Federal, State and Philanthropic Investments at Metro Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee about how the district created innovative initiatives to build relationships with students, reach out to families, and offer virtual support during school closures and remote learning, seeking to tackle the challenges posed by physical separation between teachers, students, and families.

September 22, 2021

Episode 7: Mendon-Upton Regional School District on Flexible Learning for Educators, Career-Oriented Learning, and Innovation

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, we chat with David Quinn, the Director of Technology Innovation at Mendon-Upton Regional School District in Massachusetts about how, in spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic, the district was able to leverage opportunities that remote learning had to offer to design innovative practices, facilitate flexible learning for educators, integrate strategic scheduling, and offer career-oriented learning for students.

September 22, 2021

Episode 6: Austin ISD on Instructional Blueprints, Professional Collaboration and Development, and the Concept of “Learning Loss”

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, Dr. Suzanne Newell of Austin Independent School District in Texas details how the district focused on supporting students and teachers by providing instructional blueprints with prioritized standards to help guide instructional time, as well as how they emphasized professional collaboration to address “learning loss” (also referred to as unfinished learning) and maximized time for valuable remote professional development.

September 22, 2021

Episode 5: Monterey Peninsula Unified School District on Communication, Collaboration, and Transparency

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, PK Diffenbaugh of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District in California shares with us how the district integrated inclusive communication, collaboration, and transparency with critical stakeholders in their school community, ensuring that students, teachers, and families were set up to navigate a school year like none they had experienced before. Through multilingual supports, proactive partnerships, and a focus on innovative practices, the district was able to take deliberate steps to move their initiatives forward and bring the full community into the fold.

September 22, 2021

Episode 3: How Cudahy Prioritized Communication, Feedback, and Trust-Building to Support In-Person Learning

In this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, Dr. Tina Owen-Moore of the School District of Cudahy highlights how the district focused on proactive and open communication, feedback, and trust-building with teachers, students, and the community to accomplish what at times felt impossible – all of which allowed for continued in-person teaching and learning throughout the school year.

September 22, 2021

Episode 2: How Hopkins Public Schools Maximized Inquiry Learning, Outdoor Spaces, Community Partnerships, and Feedback

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, Ann Ertl of Hopkins Public Schools details the innovations made by this Minnesota school district, including the use of outdoor learning spaces, inquiry-based learning models, partnerships with community organizations, and an ongoing feedback model that allowed the school to adjust new practices.

September 22, 2021

Episode 1: Dallas ISD’s Take on Project-Based Learning, Community Connections, and Teacher PD

On this episode of What Will We Take With Us?, a series featuring our conversations with education leaders across the United States on how they grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in K-12 education, Kristen Watkins of Dallas Independent School District shares with us the creative ways they developed to engage students through project-based learning, community partnerships, and family connections, as well as how they refined their personalized approach to professional development.

September 22, 2021

Episode 0: Welcome to TLA Stories of Learning

In this introductory episode, find out what you can expect from TLA Stories of Learning, and discover what’s in store as we release our first series, “What Will We Take With Us?” featuring education leaders who rose to the challenge of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. In our first batch of episodes, you’ll hear from education leaders across the country about what they tried in 2020-2021, what they learned, and what they’re taking with them into the school year ahead.

September 22, 2021

Craft Category: Artifacts